Hello, and thank you for allowing me to be apart of the HHR community! I absolutely fell in love with this car the first time that it got me through a terrible snow storm at the beginning of December. I bought it as a private party sale back in Oct. 22'. I have a 2011 with the 2.2L 123k miles on it, and over he course of time a few problems came to light. To make this post as short as possible (I hope), this is what is going on.

I had a coolant leak but didn't know where. Tires needed balanced and rotated, and an oil change, so I took to a local shop that is the best I have in my small town. They got done and pinpointed the leak to be the water pump, they just could not do it due to the special tool required. I was told I needed that and read on here somewhere that I should just go ahead and change out the belts along with it. So I went to NAPA and purchased everything I needed, and got a Thermostat along with it because it seemed to be underheating (thanks to this site I never would have known the thing was stuck open).
I drove it 153 miles to the closest Chevy dealer to me, which also offer the best labor cost of any of the closest ones (all more than 150 miles away). I had to leave the car there for another day, came back down on a Friday with their loaner, and it was done. Drove it home, and it got to and kept its temp at 185 degrees, and drove like a dream, no coolant smell, etc. I was happy, until I went to my sisters to pick up my daughter. It was 9:30pm when this occured, the car sat there for about 25 minutes, and when I started it up, the ignnition was catching for the first time ever, when turning the key, and the minute I fired it up, it immediately sounded like a Kazoo was stuck under the hood. I didn't put it in any gear, but automatically it displayed the RPM's at 1,000 at idle. Needless to say, I backed up, took off and it got way louder. Now it being a weekend (I picked it up last night), I have no one to look at it until Monday, and what the hell is this place going to do come Monday when I am 153 miles away? I am rather frustrated and worried. Can someone please give me some guidance, advice, of any kind? I would greatly appreciate it. Also, it was the water pump as they said it was leaking a good bit, but didn't seem to be too concerned with changing out the serp belt or anything else that was needed to be addressed with that kit. I am going to attach a photo of the invoice so you can see what they did for yourself, and I sure do hope that I get a reply.
Thank you again for letting me be part of this community of HHR owners and lovers alike!
Jessica

**I don't see where I can post a photo actually**

 

It was not belts they meant, it was chains.
Lately we have had a spat of newbies that ignore the CheckEngineLight. Is it on?
Do you check the oil level regularly? Is there water in the oil?
First, I would open the hood and look to see if anything looks out of place or disconnected, especially the connector on the air horn between the air cleaner and the throttle body. Maybe something hanging around the alternator

To post a pic click on the landscape icon and follow directions.

 

to the forums!

The button for inserting a picture is right next to the smiley face, here it is on the far right. Looks like a postcard. Or maybe it's a sun over mountains.

 

Alright, thanks for showing how to upload a picture. I sent a copy of the invoice. I provided all parts, all of the suggested parts from the mechanic shop I got the oil change and balance/rotate tires work done from and Napa had confirmed that was what I needed so I purchased what they had ordered. When I locate the parts receipt from Napa I can show you what was actually purchased.
Now regarding the check engine light, it has never came on since purchasing the car, and there are other things wrong with the car, like the turn signal chime doesn't work all of the time, and it never actually displays that my headlights are on when looking on the dash but does show when the brights are on. It also doesn't show your cruise control being on or active, only on the digitalized part of the dash. I will take a look, it has never been low on oil, and what I had thought to be water in the oil turned out to be condensation in the oil cap, and nothing more according to the mechanics who changed the oil. I will look for something loosely or completely disconnected, and will get back to you! Thank you so much for your advice! I appreciate you replying so fast!

 

Seeing as they just replaced the water pump, the balance shaft chain which drives the water pump may have over tensioned when they changed the water pump. This should be their responsibility to correct.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...et-tool-65613/

 

Believe it or not; they did not overcharge labor for the t-stat. The flat rate is 1.2 hours for a 5 minute job.
The water pump is 4.5 hours for a 1 hour job.

The CEL is supposed to light up when you turn the key to run as a test.
The sound the balance chain makes is a constant low pitched whirr. Like a kazoo being blown by someone with congested lungs, somewhere around G flat.

Once again, the previous owner was warning about the TIMING CHAIN, not the serpentine belt (they rarely go bad). The timing chain is easily checked by removing the cam cover and looking at the chain. If there is any slack between the sprockets it is bad.

Chimes come from the driver side speaker, they frequently fail. I don't think there are lights for headlights and CC.

 

I'm still laughing. Thanks.

 

Don't some water pumps make a strange noise?

 

Yes RJ some brands with plastic impellers